Lean on Me

Part One - Chapter Twenty-Seven: Cassandra's Wedding

“You look fine,” Cassidy said taking Fernando’s hand as they walked into the hotel where Cassandra was getting married, she knew that her boyfriend was a little nervous about this and she didn’t blame him.

Fernando nodded his head admiring his girlfriend of nine months, who was wearing a pink sheath sweetheart empire waist floor-length dress paired with nude leather mesh court shoes; he couldn’t believe that she was twenty-one weeks pregnant with their child.

“I know… I’m just a little worried that’s all,” Fernando said drawing her close, he was glad that André Villas-Boas had given him the time off from training to be here with Cassidy; there was a lot of pressure right now on the team and he hoped that things would get better soon.

“About what?” Cassidy asked nodding her head at a couple of her relatives in acknowledgement, they were a little surprised to see her with the professional footballer; she turned her head to look at Fernando, who seemed to be a little nervous about what he was going to say.

“This is the first time that I’ve met your family,” Fernando said trying to ignore some of the stares, he knew that they were all interested in why he was with Cassidy and that they had probably all been following the news on their relationship.

Cassidy sighed turning to face her boyfriend, this was far from ideal but she didn’t care; she loved Fernando and she knew that her family were going to have to accept that.

“Ignore them… I love you and that I all that matters,” Cassidy said pressing a kiss to Fernando’s lips, he smiled at her as he cupped her face before the couple moved off to find their seats.

***

“Cass,” Cassandra said hugging her older sister, a smile firmly on her face as her new husband moved to stand next to her; the two sisters hugged before Cassandra stepped back and looked at Cassidy.

“I can’t believe how big you are,” the blonde said making Cassidy roll her eyes while her new husband chuckled at her words; it was true that Cassidy was a little bigger than expected but the doctor had told the couple that it wasn’t anything to worry about.

“Thanks… Andra this is Fernando,” Cassidy said feeling her boyfriend rest a hand on her lower back, she glanced at him as her sister suddenly focused on the footballer. Cassandra watched him for a moment making Fernando look at her nervously before she hugged him.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you and welcome to the family,” Cassandra said pulling back from Fernando, who looked at her a little surprised that she seemed so accepting about the fact that he was with her older sister.

Fernando had expected some sort of anger that he had been married when he had begun to date Cassidy and had gotten her pregnant.

“Gracias,” Fernando said as Jason wrapped his arm around Cassandra and pressed a kiss to her cheek, she blushed as she waved her hand at him to stop him before she smiled at her sister.

Cassidy felt Fernando wrap an arm around her waist allowing him to press a kiss to the top of her head; he knew that people were watching and he felt a little more relaxed.

“So when are you two getting married?” Jason asked making the couple freeze slightly, this was going to come up since they were having a baby together but that didn’t mean that they were going to rush into anything that they weren’t ready for.

“Jason,” Cassandra warned shooting a warning look at her new husband, he was a little old fashioned and she had warned him not to bring anything like that up; she could see that her older sister was finally happy and she wasn’t going to do anything to disturb that.

“What it’s a simple question?” Jason asked innocently, it wasn’t his place but he didn’t want to watch Fernando walk out on Cassidy and the baby if he wasn’t going to make the right sort of commitment to her; he wanted to ensure that they were prepared for the future.

“We’re not in any sort of rush… I’ve just got out of a marriage and I’d like to take my time getting used to this relationship before we took that sort of step,” Fernando said looking at Jason, he knew what he was doing and he didn’t like it.

Fernando was committed to Cassidy and nothing was going to change that, he just hoped that the other man wasn’t going to cause them any problems.

Jason pursed his lips preparing to say something before Cassandra elbowed him as she shot Cassidy an apologetic look as her eyes focused on someone across the room; Cassidy looked at her confused before she realised what her sister was looking at.

“Oh look Stephan is here,” Jason said smugly spotting Cassidy’s ex-boyfriend, he was a close friend of Stephan’s and knew that the other man would get under Fernando’s skin; he knew that tonight was going to be interesting.

Fernando stiffened looking over at Stephan Williams and wondered why he had to be at this wedding; Cassidy had warned him that there was a chance that he was going to be at there but he hadn’t actually thought that he’d be stupid enough to show.

***

“Well look what the cat dragged in… I thought you were avoiding me,” Stephan said approaching Cassidy; the brunette was sat at her table alone while Fernando was at the bar and she now cursed him for taking so long.

Stephan frowned slightly at the sight of Cassidy’s bump as she turned to look at him, he had heard the rumour that she had moved on and was now having this other man’s child but since he had been in America he hadn’t believed it.

“What do you want?” Cassidy asked glaring at her former boyfriend, she wasn’t interested in anything that he had to say to her; she just hoped that Fernando would be back soon.

Stephan smiled moving to sit down next to his former girlfriend, he knew that the Chelsea players had warned him to stay away from her but he couldn’t help himself; she looked amazing and he wanted her back.

“I want you…” Stephan said moving to take her hand before someone rested a hand on his shoulder and gave it a painful squeeze. Stephan frowned turning to face whoever it was to tell them to go away only to come face to face with an annoyed Fernando.

“She’s not interested,” Fernando spat carefully pulling Stephan from his seat, he knew better than to cause a scene and he just hoped that the other man was smart enough to walk away.

Stephan looked at him confused before Fernando pressed a kiss to Cassidy’s lips and rested a hand on her bump, he blinked watching them as he realised just who his ex-girlfriend was dating now.

Fernando smiled to himself as he turned to look at Stephan who shot him a dirty look as he turned and walked away; the footballer hoped that the other man wasn’t going to cause them any trouble in the future since he had a feeling that this was far from over.

“You okay?” Fernando asked looking at Cassidy, he didn’t want Stephan anywhere near her or their baby and he was going to make sure that the other man wasn’t a threat to them.